This is a power move on the part of the mods in order to consolidate power as a means of taking over the site and in turn bending the rules to suit their own biases. No one should be celebrating this. I have been personally targeted by moderators with suspensions purely due to them disliking they are on the losing end of an argument. I have been personally targeted by moderators who stole my Pub Club membership; an ability they have not previously had.

This is a thinly veiled return to Draconian Moderation by the Escapist's moderators. If any of you have so much as an ounce of care for your own free speech, you will damned well make it clear that moderators MUST be held accountable for their actions and DEFINITELY receive punishment should their powers be abused; especially against simply speaking or thinking differently. Anything less is playing the role of the masochistic user begging for oppression by sadistic moderators.

The Code of Conduct needs an absolute overhaul. Its rules are oppressive. Its views on what can and cannot be said are so vague that they include "aggressive" and "passive-aggressive" speech as well as the complete bullshit Rule 0 and numerous rules which limit what we can discuss in the Religion and Politics section such as racism or if unethical laws should be broken. Additionally, these rules have been applied within the Wild West community against me specifically, meaning the Wild West subforum's rules have been deemed void by the Escapist moderators.

The Discord server for Escapist moderators has become a hivemind mentality chamber in which the most vocal Escapist moderators have dominion over the group's actions. It is a server used solely for orchestrating unethical uniform actions by moderators as a means of oppressing users regardless of basis in rules.

You all need to actively, with great vitriol, speak for your rights on this website. It doesn't matter if this website is owned, it doesn't matter if mods were given authority. If a rule is unethical, don't obey it. If a mod is unethical, don't obey them. If a site is unethical, don't submit to it or run from it- rebel against it!

I have noticed a continual history on the Escapist of users to a degree being aware of this issue of mods abusing powers, and only recently has this mod abuse spiked. There is a trend on the Internet of users continually, over and over, running from mods or criticizing them without taking any action. If you all want change to occur, stand your ground on this website, pay close attention to what you are and aren't allowed to do, and make the moderators and administrators of this site thoroughly aware of any issues you personally observe. Only by being vocal and consistent can we as a whole have real, helpful change. Anything less, and this site will become an echo-chamber built by mods for mods and against any free thinking users.

Susan Arendt:Then we clean the FUCK out of this place. Scorched earth, motherfuckers. I honestly don't understand why you're not already doing that.

Wow.

And you wonder why all the websites you manage keep failing.

Bless your heart. Ok, let's do a quick review:

I left The Escapist in 2013. The site kept going at full strength for several years. What has happened to it now clearly has absolutely nothing to do with me.

Joystiq (where I was Managing Editor, not EIC) was shut down in 2015 prior to the sale of AOL to Verizon. A number of smaller AOL sites were shuttered to slim down AOL's asking price. Joystiq, for example, had a $1 million per year budget (which covered Joystiq, Massively, and WoW Insider), so do that several times over (I think...6? brands got shut down? I can't recall) and you've lowered the asking price nicely. The Escapist slimmed down similarly before the acquisition by Alloy by cutting its budget 30%, which included laying off staff and letting content creators go. That's what happened to Reel Physics.)

I was laid off from GamesRadar+ in April as Future consolidates more of its staff in the UK, where the company is actually based. UK staff is far cheaper than US staff, so Future has been systematically decreasing the US presence since 2014 or so. In any event, that site is still very much in business.

So how, exactly, would you consider these sites to be failing? Oh, right. You don't actually have any idea of what you're talking about.

Epyc Wynn:This is a power move on the part of the mods in order to consolidate power as a means of taking over the site and in turn bending the rules to suit their own biases. No one should be celebrating this. I have been personally targeted by moderators with suspensions purely due to them disliking they are on the losing end of an argument. I have been personally targeted by moderators who stole my Pub Club membership; an ability they have not previously had.

This is a thinly veiled return to Draconian Moderation by the Escapist's moderators. If any of you have so much as an ounce of care for your own free speech, you will damned well make it clear that moderators MUST be held accountable for their actions and DEFINITELY receive punishment should their powers be abused; especially against simply speaking or thinking differently. Anything less is playing the role of the masochistic user begging for oppression by sadistic moderators.

The Code of Conduct needs an absolute overhaul. Its rules are oppressive. Its views on what can and cannot be said are so vague that they include "aggressive" and "passive-aggressive" speech as well as the complete bullshit Rule 0 and numerous rules which limit what we can discuss in the Religion and Politics section such as racism or if unethical laws should be broken. Additionally, these rules have been applied within the Wild West community against me specifically, meaning the Wild West subforum's rules have been deemed void by the Escapist moderators.

The Discord server for Escapist moderators has become a hivemind mentality chamber in which the most vocal Escapist moderators have dominion over the group's actions. It is a server used solely for orchestrating unethical uniform actions by moderators as a means of oppressing users regardless of basis in rules.

You all need to actively, with great vitriol, speak for your rights on this website. It doesn't matter if this website is owned, it doesn't matter if mods were given authority. If a rule is unethical, don't obey it. If a mod is unethical, don't obey them. If a site is unethical, don't submit to it or run from it- rebel against it!

I have noticed a continual history on the Escapist of users to a degree being aware of this issue of mods abusing powers, and only recently has this mod abuse spiked. There is a trend on the Internet of users continually, over and over, running from mods or criticizing them without taking any action. If you all want change to occur, stand your ground on this website, pay close attention to what you are and aren't allowed to do, and make the moderators and administrators of this site thoroughly aware of any issues you personally observe. Only by being vocal and consistent can we as a whole have real, helpful change. Anything less, and this site will become an echo-chamber built by mods for mods and against any free thinking users.

I think I've read every page here. Is this the first time you commented in 14 pages? That would be impressive.

Pity about your message. Firstly, I'd say there is roughly three camps at the moment. those on the right or left who want to promote good old fashion right/left values and ban those who don't comply. There are those in the middle who want to ban dicks and those skirting the rules and then those that think mods are the worst. The latter is by far the smallest. I could agree that they aren't infallible but I also don't pick fights with them. You seem like you will never be happy until you get exactly what you want. The way you treat people here, I can understand when most other users say they never want you to get that. You might not have realised - you still wont be happy even if you get what you want. It'll just lead to the next thing you want to crusade against.

The mods are the closest things to leaders here. A leader is a person who promote a group and you can't have a group until you exclude people. Much of what you call abuse of power, other users would call holding up the CoC. That's how groups work. (Also, remember that this is a private entity. They can literally do what they want.) You are in your own echo-chamber. I can personally say that their echo-chamber affects me far less than yours. Also, please don't conflate 'free-thinking user' with you who keeps trying to make everyone think your way. free-thinking also doesn't exclude you from being criticised.

Also, if you talking about not obeying unethical rules, a large part of that is taking the consequence of breaking them. That's the whole point.

Epyc Wynn:You all need to actively, with great vitriol, speak for your rights on this website. It doesn't matter if this website is owned, it doesn't matter if mods were given authority. If a rule is unethical, don't obey it. If a mod is unethical, don't obey them. If a site is unethical, don't submit to it or run from it- rebel against it!

In just a few words, can you tell me why?

I mean, I understand that you feel unfairly targeted and repressed, but I don't understand why you feel the need to try to make a public spectacle of your displeasure. Please take this as the kindest I can make it, it sucks for us to see you so continuously unhappy here, and the extra work you give to the mod team seems so unnecessary for both you and us.

If you're really unhappy here, why do you stay? Why does this have to be a fight?

Epyc Wynn:This is a power move on the part of the mods in order to consolidate power as a means of taking over the site and in turn bending the rules to suit their own biases. No one should be celebrating this. I have been personally targeted by moderators with suspensions purely due to them disliking they are on the losing end of an argument. I have been personally targeted by moderators who stole my Pub Club membership; an ability they have not previously had.

This is a thinly veiled return to Draconian Moderation by the Escapist's moderators. If any of you have so much as an ounce of care for your own free speech, you will damned well make it clear that moderators MUST be held accountable for their actions and DEFINITELY receive punishment should their powers be abused; especially against simply speaking or thinking differently. Anything less is playing the role of the masochistic user begging for oppression by sadistic moderators.

The Code of Conduct needs an absolute overhaul. Its rules are oppressive. Its views on what can and cannot be said are so vague that they include "aggressive" and "passive-aggressive" speech as well as the complete bullshit Rule 0 and numerous rules which limit what we can discuss in the Religion and Politics section such as racism or if unethical laws should be broken. Additionally, these rules have been applied within the Wild West community against me specifically, meaning the Wild West subforum's rules have been deemed void by the Escapist moderators.

The Discord server for Escapist moderators has become a hivemind mentality chamber in which the most vocal Escapist moderators have dominion over the group's actions. It is a server used solely for orchestrating unethical uniform actions by moderators as a means of oppressing users regardless of basis in rules.

You all need to actively, with great vitriol, speak for your rights on this website. It doesn't matter if this website is owned, it doesn't matter if mods were given authority. If a rule is unethical, don't obey it. If a mod is unethical, don't obey them. If a site is unethical, don't submit to it or run from it- rebel against it!

I have noticed a continual history on the Escapist of users to a degree being aware of this issue of mods abusing powers, and only recently has this mod abuse spiked. There is a trend on the Internet of users continually, over and over, running from mods or criticizing them without taking any action. If you all want change to occur, stand your ground on this website, pay close attention to what you are and aren't allowed to do, and make the moderators and administrators of this site thoroughly aware of any issues you personally observe. Only by being vocal and consistent can we as a whole have real, helpful change. Anything less, and this site will become an echo-chamber built by mods for mods and against any free thinking users.

Cry harder, dude. The fact you lasted as long as you did means the mods put up with you a lot longer than the old staff would've done. You pushed too far, you got bit, suck it up.

Oh, and tell your friend who 100% abused his position he's an idiot too. Ta.

Epyc Wynn:This is a power move on the part of the mods in order to consolidate power as a means of taking over the site and in turn bending the rules to suit their own biases. No one should be celebrating this. I have been personally targeted by moderators with suspensions purely due to them disliking they are on the losing end of an argument. I have been personally targeted by moderators who stole my Pub Club membership; an ability they have not previously had.

This is a thinly veiled return to Draconian Moderation by the Escapist's moderators. If any of you have so much as an ounce of care for your own free speech, you will damned well make it clear that moderators MUST be held accountable for their actions and DEFINITELY receive punishment should their powers be abused; especially against simply speaking or thinking differently. Anything less is playing the role of the masochistic user begging for oppression by sadistic moderators.

The Code of Conduct needs an absolute overhaul. Its rules are oppressive. Its views on what can and cannot be said are so vague that they include "aggressive" and "passive-aggressive" speech as well as the complete bullshit Rule 0 and numerous rules which limit what we can discuss in the Religion and Politics section such as racism or if unethical laws should be broken. Additionally, these rules have been applied within the Wild West community against me specifically, meaning the Wild West subforum's rules have been deemed void by the Escapist moderators.

The Discord server for Escapist moderators has become a hivemind mentality chamber in which the most vocal Escapist moderators have dominion over the group's actions. It is a server used solely for orchestrating unethical uniform actions by moderators as a means of oppressing users regardless of basis in rules.

You all need to actively, with great vitriol, speak for your rights on this website. It doesn't matter if this website is owned, it doesn't matter if mods were given authority. If a rule is unethical, don't obey it. If a mod is unethical, don't obey them. If a site is unethical, don't submit to it or run from it- rebel against it!

I have noticed a continual history on the Escapist of users to a degree being aware of this issue of mods abusing powers, and only recently has this mod abuse spiked. There is a trend on the Internet of users continually, over and over, running from mods or criticizing them without taking any action. If you all want change to occur, stand your ground on this website, pay close attention to what you are and aren't allowed to do, and make the moderators and administrators of this site thoroughly aware of any issues you personally observe. Only by being vocal and consistent can we as a whole have real, helpful change. Anything less, and this site will become an echo-chamber built by mods for mods and against any free thinking users.

*kisses fingers like a chef*

Now this is a good post. The pure cringe contained here is utterly delightful.

You all need to actively, with great vitriol, speak for your rights on this website. It doesn't matter if this website is owned, it doesn't matter if mods were given authority. If a rule is unethical, don't obey it. If a mod is unethical, don't obey them. If a site is unethical, don't submit to it or run from it- rebel against it!

Epyc Wynn:You all need to actively, with great vitriol, speak for your rights on this website. It doesn't matter if this website is owned, it doesn't matter if mods were given authority. If a rule is unethical, don't obey it. If a mod is unethical, don't obey them. If a site is unethical, don't submit to it or run from it- rebel against it!

In just a few words, can you tell me why?

I mean, I understand that you feel unfairly targeted and repressed, but I don't understand why you feel the need to try to make a public spectacle of your displeasure. Please take this as the kindest I can make it, it sucks for us to see you so continuously unhappy here, and the extra work you give to the mod team seems so unnecessary for both you and us.

If you're really unhappy here, why do you stay? Why does this have to be a fight?

From a human perspective, it's better to show up than to give up.

I feel like you would love to read this; it's some chat messages from the Escapist mods Discord involving how my Pub Club membership was stolen which is not allowed within the Code of Conduct at the time it was done which was just a bit more than two weeks ago.

Removed again. Do not make me do this a third time. -Nuke

I think you'll also find out lots of useful information if you join the Wild West club and just, browse some of our content.

Epyc Wynn:You all need to actively, with great vitriol, speak for your rights on this website. It doesn't matter if this website is owned, it doesn't matter if mods were given authority. If a rule is unethical, don't obey it. If a mod is unethical, don't obey them. If a site is unethical, don't submit to it or run from it- rebel against it!

In just a few words, can you tell me why?

I mean, I understand that you feel unfairly targeted and repressed, but I don't understand why you feel the need to try to make a public spectacle of your displeasure. Please take this as the kindest I can make it, it sucks for us to see you so continuously unhappy here, and the extra work you give to the mod team seems so unnecessary for both you and us.

If you're really unhappy here, why do you stay? Why does this have to be a fight?

From a human perspective, it's better to show up than to give up.

I feel like you would love to read this; it's some chat messages from the Escapist mods Discord involving how my Pub Club membership was stolen which is not allowed within the Code of Conduct at the time it was done which was just a bit more than two weeks ago.

I think you'll also find out lots of useful information if you join the Wild West club and just, browse some of our content.

Someone just censored the above leak. I have put it back and will remind all admins and mods they do not have the social right to censor what offends them.

Who the hell gave that to you?

I can take a stab at who though, but that's for the mods to find out.

You are not privy to the mod chat log and posting that around in public isn't going to do you any favors. I don't care if you are a freedom fighter or whatever, you are not some purveyor of enlightenment against oppression. You have no right to do that. One mod has already done that in the past and that did not end well, so what makes you think that this will be any different?

Also, if you hate this place so much then leave. No one's keeping you here, and you're clearly dissatisfied with the site, so why both staying?

Just to clarify, I don't really have a horse in this race (as I'm no fan of Wynn). In fact, I'm far more interested in the other side of this equation. ie: What's going to happen to the mod who leaked these screenshots.

Remember the last mod who did such a thing was promptly fired, so can we expect the same disciplinary action this time? And can we be told which moderator did it?

Epyc Wynn:From a human perspective, it's better to show up than to give up.

I feel like you would love to read this; it's some chat messages from the Escapist mods Discord involving how my Pub Club membership was stolen which is not allowed within the Code of Conduct at the time it was done which was just a bit more than two weeks ago.

One, I'd appreciate it if you didn't post private chat in public spaces. Do so again, and I will be actively moderating it and you. Private conversations are not things to be shared without all parties' consent, regardless of how morally upright you feel about the contents.

Two, I'm present in that very discussion, so I'm rather aware of what it says.

Three, despite how you may feel about your treatment, you are not owed these social spaces, this forum's audience, or these moderators' time. Everyone currently doing things here at the Escapist are doing so at our loss, and with little to show for it. What we do, we do because it's our best effort at making this as good a space for everyone as we can.

Defining what is a "good" space will come with its inherent subjectivities, and naturally this isn't going to suit every possible reader, or every possible administrator. However, you coming in to what is our workplace, and flipping our workdesks simply because you have opinions about the state of this place is bad. If you don't like it, I'm sorry you're unhappy, but leave. As of right now, your account isn't banned, you still have free access to messaging systems and the forums, make liberal use of them. Reach out to your friends, start a new community, host a private chat, coordinate where you'd rather move. Make you, and yours, as happy as you can.

What you're doing here, with your uncivil disobedience disguised as moralizing, is making us work hard for no reason. You're unhappy, you're using this space that doesn't belong to you in a way that those who are administrating it are actively telling you not to, and you're painting us as the bad guy for so doing. It's counterproductive, and I'm telling you now that no one will be able to be as productive with you currently behaving this way as they would be if you weren't here. Take that with the dose of reality it should contain: if you continue this way, people will run out of patience for you.

This is not a country, we are not a government - any belief you have about doing the right thing is not defending anyone's rights. If we kick you from the forums, you're not being jailed indefinitely or killed, your rights are not being taken. You're being kicked out of a private residence that we leave open for those who don't actively undermine the people running the place. You're actively undermining the place.

Stop it.

If you want to continue this conversation, my messages are always open. But I cannot advise you to keep railing on this topic here. This is a thread for new beginnings, not old grudges. Let it go.

Given that we're currently undergoing a significant change in how the Escapist currently functions, there are a constant sea of suggestions, changes, trials, and efforts in all directions as we find our bearings. This may include changing the nature of those on our administration.

As you can tell, I have a yellow name rather than a blue one, this change was likewise not announced, but I can assure you there was zero intent to have it read as a lie. For now, we're in constant internal discussion, and some things may change. For now, I can assure you that seeking the opinions of "bot duty" is hardly a breach of any protocol, but rather the effort to get as much opportunity for benefit of the doubt of the accused as possible.

Again, if this is to your concern, I can forward your concerns to the relevant parties. For now though, things are changing. We're not keeping you out in the cold.

Given that we're currently undergoing a significant change in how the Escapist currently functions, there are a constant sea of suggestions, changes, trials, and efforts in all directions as we find our bearings. This may include changing the nature of those on our administration.

As you can tell, I have a yellow name rather than a blue one, this change was likewise not announced, but I can assure you there was zero intent to have it read as a lie. For now, we're in constant internal discussion, and some things may change. For now, I can assure you that seeking the opinions of "bot duty" is hardly a breach of any protocol, but rather the effort to get as much opportunity for benefit of the doubt of the accused as possible.

Again, if this is to your concern, I can forward your concerns to the relevant parties. For now though, things are changing. We're not keeping you out in the cold.

However, as I have said, this is not the place for these discussions.

So, you want an "Open Letter" to the community about the staff, moderation and future of the site. But, you don't want us to discuss the fact that somebody who, as far as we know, is only on staff due to being a friend of another moderator, has access to the IMS and makes suggestions to removing privileges of users in ways that hasn't been done before? And that rather than tell us the truth about this, you decided instead to go with "Exclusively on bot duty"?

What the hell is "Rank2traffic"? How does a third-party website collect historical Alexa rankings that only Alexa itself has? How does an algorithm extract proprietary Alex data? Sounds shady...

Has anyone else heard of this site or am I crazy?

It's common for a lot of sites to do this. Take Kicktraq for example. It just takes Kickstarter campaigns and runs a simple algorithm to figure out how it'll probably end up. I checked a few other sites, and it checks out pretty accurately.

Whilst, it's not 100%, it's pretty close to the real figures.

Murlin:The bigger issue always remains that nobody knows the rules better then the people who skirt their limits. You can write an exhaustive, iron-clad code of conduct and you'll still have to deal with bad faith actors who manage to stay just within the limits of acceptable. The idea of a purge then isn't just to get rid of those people, it's to signal a definitive stance taken by your community against them. It's a gamble and it has no guarantee of succeeding.

The tried and true way of dealing with these things, and something that internet moderators have been saying for years is "Don't feed the trolls". And it's especially accurate. If somebody is arguing in good faith, you do not have to engage them. If everyone is, then you should act. But, singular instances do not define the entire trend. There has been plenty of good arguments on this site for things that are inherently wrong, incorrect, or immoral. Throwing that away due to a few instances would be a detriment.

Because when you let someone expose what they think and can help them understand why they are wrong. Screaming "BIGOOOOOTTTT!" at them and banning them for expressing an honest opinion in a non-targeted way just shows you can't actually refute anything they are saying so have to silence them.

I've already gone over this. Trying to explain to a bigot why they're wrong doesn't work. You're not going to make them change their mind with an internet argument, and quite frankly I'm not sure why so many people believe that you can.

Here, let me frame it in a way you might be more kind to accepting: do you think that you would ever be able to change an "SJW's" mind about the ubiquity of sexism in the world? Do you think that you would ever be able to convince a feminist that actually, the white supremacists who want to subjugate them totally aren't misogynists? If you don't think you could do those things, why do you think you can convince a white supremacist to no longer be a white supremacist? Why do you think you can convince transphobes to accept trans people (in fact, we have extensive evidence on this very website of people outright rejecting factual scientific studies that disprove their transphobic beliefs).

As for your last bit, no, "the wage gap is a myth" is a line perpetuated by sexists in an attempt to shut up women who try to change the inequality inherent in the working place. So for you to claim that it has nothing to do with sexism is, frankly, insulting and revealing.

Even if you can't change the mind of the person you are arguing with(which I don't believe is impossible in all cases), you can still change the minds of the people who are watching the argument. I've changed my mind about many issues over the years by reading arguments on the Escapist. Generally though, the people who changed my mind weren't as, let's say, aggressive as you tend to be these days.

Because when you let someone expose what they think and can help them understand why they are wrong. Screaming "BIGOOOOOTTTT!" at them and banning them for expressing an honest opinion in a non-targeted way just shows you can't actually refute anything they are saying so have to silence them.

I've already gone over this. Trying to explain to a bigot why they're wrong doesn't work. You're not going to make them change their mind with an internet argument, and quite frankly I'm not sure why so many people believe that you can.

Here, let me frame it in a way you might be more kind to accepting: do you think that you would ever be able to change an "SJW's" mind about the ubiquity of sexism in the world? Do you think that you would ever be able to convince a feminist that actually, the white supremacists who want to subjugate them totally aren't misogynists? If you don't think you could do those things, why do you think you can convince a white supremacist to no longer be a white supremacist? Why do you think you can convince transphobes to accept trans people (in fact, we have extensive evidence on this very website of people outright rejecting factual scientific studies that disprove their transphobic beliefs).

As for your last bit, no, "the wage gap is a myth" is a line perpetuated by sexists in an attempt to shut up women who try to change the inequality inherent in the working place. So for you to claim that it has nothing to do with sexism is, frankly, insulting and revealing.

Even if you can't change the mind of the person you are arguing with(which I don't believe is impossible in all cases), you can still change the minds of the people who are watching the argument.

Frankly, that's the only reason I even get involved anymore.

Generally though, the people who changed my mind weren't as, let's say, aggressive as you tend to be these days.

Yes, I own my aggression. I view these subjects as very serious, and I have a lot of first-hand experience that tells me it's fairly futile to attempt being "polite" with people who hold views like "trans women aren't women". And, quite honestly, the prevalence of casual bigotry is so overwhelming that sometimes I just don't have the patience for it. Pages ago in this very thread somebody pointed out that these hateful opinions are "just there" and "have always been there" as if that's perfectly normal and acceptable. At the end of the day, it's just not my job to educate people on how to not be hateful.

If some fence-sitter looking in on my conversations from afar wants to side with the person who says "we should let bigots be bigots on our website as long as they're polite about it" just because of the tone of my posts, then they're probably not someone I was going to convince anyway. People can tell me that they think I'm too aggressive all they like, sure, fine, it's a fair point, but if my aggression undermines the fundamental point of my message to them, then they're showing that they care more about the well-being of bigots than they do that of women and minorities. Like I said earlier, a group of anti-Semites can be discussing as politely as they please, but at the end of the day they'll still be discussing how Hitler kinda had the right idea about the Jews. Is that really the sort of message you want to send to any Jewish people who would potentially run across your website, that those are the sorts of ideas your website fosters?

Yes, I take a hard stance. I understand that many people are going to be uncomfortable with that. I don't care. I used to be uncomfortable with it myself just a few short years ago. You can see in my post history examples of me wanting to shy away from "extreme" polarization. But that polarization happened anyway. It's everywhere now. And here on the internet, the predominant voices are those from the hard-right. So I'm going to stand against them. I accept that I'm going to lose the respect of some people. I accept that I'm probably going to push some people away from my position. I accept that there are probably better ways to get at my desired end-goal. And even though it won't make me many friends, I'm going to continue on in the way that I have been, because that's my nature and I can't really change it.

Epyc Wynn:From a human perspective, it's better to show up than to give up.

I feel like you would love to read this; it's some chat messages from the Escapist mods Discord involving how my Pub Club membership was stolen which is not allowed within the Code of Conduct at the time it was done which was just a bit more than two weeks ago.

One, I'd appreciate it if you didn't post private chat in public spaces. Do so again, and I will be actively moderating it and you. Private conversations are not things to be shared without all parties' consent, regardless of how morally upright you feel about the contents.

Two, I'm present in that very discussion, so I'm rather aware of what it says.

Three, despite how you may feel about your treatment, you are not owed these social spaces, this forum's audience, or these moderators' time. Everyone currently doing things here at the Escapist are doing so at our loss, and with little to show for it. What we do, we do because it's our best effort at making this as good a space for everyone as we can.

Defining what is a "good" space will come with its inherent subjectivities, and naturally this isn't going to suit every possible reader, or every possible administrator. However, you coming in to what is our workplace, and flipping our workdesks simply because you have opinions about the state of this place is bad. If you don't like it, I'm sorry you're unhappy, but leave. As of right now, your account isn't banned, you still have free access to messaging systems and the forums, make liberal use of them. Reach out to your friends, start a new community, host a private chat, coordinate where you'd rather move. Make you, and yours, as happy as you can.

What you're doing here, with your uncivil disobedience disguised as moralizing, is making us work hard for no reason. You're unhappy, you're using this space that doesn't belong to you in a way that those who are administrating it are actively telling you not to, and you're painting us as the bad guy for so doing. It's counterproductive, and I'm telling you now that no one will be able to be as productive with you currently behaving this way as they would be if you weren't here. Take that with the dose of reality it should contain: if you continue this way, people will run out of patience for you.

This is not a country, we are not a government - any belief you have about doing the right thing is not defending anyone's rights. If we kick you from the forums, you're not being jailed indefinitely or killed, your rights are not being taken. You're being kicked out of a private residence that we leave open for those who don't actively undermine the people running the place. You're actively undermining the place.

Stop it.

If you want to continue this conversation, my messages are always open. But I cannot advise you to keep railing on this topic here. This is a thread for new beginnings, not old grudges. Let it go.

I will first state as I did to the last moderator who gave similar argumentation right before they too suspended me for 14 days, that I am responding to you specifically for the reason that a moderator does not have the right to make a user shut up just to feel like "haha I got the last word in" and for this reason alone I am responding, either to expose that a moderator would indeed abuse their power to get the last laugh in an argument (meaning I will get punished after posting this post) or to simply reply to you as I would to a normal user. All moderators and users alike are thinking human beings equally worthy of argumentation, as is the point of having a thread; to have THOUGHTFUL discussions which INCLUDES argumentation which is not simply a word you can stigmatize with the phrase "don't argue with mods" because that automatically forces upon me a slave-master mentality and automatically I have to reject that as the free human being I was born to be.

Moderators are giving themselves their own work. No one had to give me all those punishments. No one had to suspend me. No one had the right to take my Pub Club -yet it was taken. No one had the right to bastardize the Code of Conduct to allow for ANY and ALL abuse of moderator powers. Yet here we are. If this site's rules can be bent against anyone, that does not suddenly justify moderators acting against the interests of users. Rules exist to help users, not oppress them -any moderator who does not understand that should be removed from power immediately.

And finally, and this is something I personally stand for with firm conviction even if most people will read this as truly ridiculous -and I understand why, as this is not a precedented political view. This website is a government and a country. Just because this website lacks land to tread, or bodies to feel, or a bureaucratic system of law, does not mean it is suddenly not a government or a country. I would dub this, a meta-country, because the land is the webpage and the user accounts are the citizens. Badges are titles. Mods are lower-level oligarchs. Admins are higher-level oligarchs. The owner of this entire website is the dictator. The user, is just the citizen. And what happens, when enough citizens feel oppressed by their government? What happens when enough oligarchs piss on the rights of the citizens of their country? What do those citizens do?

I leave you to find out the answer to that question.

Now I am owed significant apology and retribution for the wrongs which have been sent my way. I invite you one last time, before I am wrongly banned, to try to see things from the user perspective rather than from the mod perspective. Because if I am banned, and it is likely I will be, I have to wonder... do you even understand where I am coming from? Would you really, on the basis of ridiculous rules such as Rule 0, not allowing certain discussion topics, disallowing styles of communication such as speaking aggressively or passive-aggressively, would you really ignore EVERYTHING I have said or worse, pan it as justification for how the moderator should continue to have all this unhinged power? This question goes out to every moderator -do you even understand that your rules are genuinely bad and I am being abused for reasons which exist outside of the Code of Conduct, with powers not listed in the rules? Do you moderators realize just how may of you deserve a significant punishment but WON'T receive one SOLELY because you're mods?

Or are you all going to continue to see things from an anti-user perspective of "the mod is always right"?

The choice is yours, but even if I lose here, the message will be sent to everyone what kind of mods you all are. I hope all Escapist mods will think THOROUGHLY on what I have just said and TAKE this criticism, rather than attacking the critic.